News from First Five Nebraska
 July 2016
 

 

Our vision is that all Nebraska children begin kindergarten with the experience they need to become successful students and productive citizens.  

 


We submitted written testimony to the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services in support of proposed changes to regulations related to the Child Care Subsidy program.  




Senior Policy Associate Jen Goettemoeller and her daughters attended the Girls Inc. luncheon with guest speaker Malala in Omaha.  Malala's inspiring life story is a lesson in bravery, resilience and persistence. 


Quick Links
  • Zero to Three's July focus in A Year of Play is body parts. Here are songs to sing, books to read and activities to do together with babies and toddlers.


Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter

 

 

Sign up to receive  Action Alerts and other news from

    

    FirstFiveNebraska.org  

 
Early Childhood Education Is Designated a 'Teacher Shortage' Area in Nebraska 
      
Changes in education  re gulations  now make it easier for aspiring teachers or teachers seeking endorsements in other areas to participate in two forgivable loan programs aimed at growing and retaining a high-quality teacher workforce in Nebraska.  

Administered by the  Nebraska Department of Education , the  Attracting Excellence in Teaching Program  and the  Enhancing Excellence in Teaching Program  offer opportunities for aspiring early childhood teachers or teachers endorsed in other areas to teach in the early childhood field. 

   
First Five Nebraska estimates that an additional 8,000 early childhood professionals p roviding the level of quality known to reduce the achievement gap  are needed to serve the  64,000 Nebraska children at risk of failing in school .
 
 

 

Lauri Cimino, Director of Step Up to Quality, Nebraska Dept. of Education: Nebraska's early childhood quality rating and improvement system is working to improve early care and education quality for Nebraska's youngest children and increase positive child outcomes to close the achievement gap. 

Kelli

Kelli Hauptman: Co-Director, Nebraska Resource Project for Vulnerable Young Children: Nebraska attorneys, judges, caseworkers, home visitors, early childhood educators and others who work in the fields of prevention and intervention came together for the first time recently to discuss and learn about improving outcomes for our youngest children. 

Early Childhood Collaborative Introduces CEO
 

The  Nebraska Early Childhood Collaborative board and the
Buffett Early Childhood Fund hosted a gathering recently to introduce Shannon Cotsoradis (left), founding CEO of the Nebraska Early Childhood Collaborative. 

The Collaborative offers shared services for early childhood educators with two basic purposes: 1) to boost program quality across Nebraska by providing consultation, coaching and training to early childhood professionals, and 2) to improve efficiencies in "back-office" operations (finance, human resources, payroll, purchasing, etc.) for early childhood organizations. 

The Collaborative also operates the Nebraska Early Childhood Exchange, an online resource hub where early childhood educators can easily access a variety of tools (policies, guidelines, forms, job descriptions, state and federal regulations and much more), cost-saving discounts on books, supplies, food, technology, classroom materials, etc., and information on improving their quality of care.